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Neurodevelopment

Regeneration switch is a gas

Nature volume 531, pages 182–183 (2016)Cite this article

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Nitric oxide gas has now been found to act as a switch during developmental remodelling of axonal projections from neurons: high gas levels promote the degeneration of unwanted axons and low levels support subsequent regrowth.

To create fantastic bonsai trees, a bonsai master prunes unwanted branches and promotes the growth of new ones with careful timing. Similarly, neuronal projections called axons must undergo proper and timely pruning and regrowth in the brain to produce functional neuronal circuits1. Failure of this process has been associated with autism and schizophrenia2,3. Until now, the way in which neurons transition between degenerative and regenerative states has been mysterious, but, writing in Cell, Rabinovich et al.4 report that the switch is mediated by levels of nitric oxide (NO) gas.

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Figure 1: A switch that controls neuronal remodelling.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Takeshi Awasaki is in the Department of Biology, Kyorin University School of Medicine, Mitaka, Tokyo 181-8611, Japan.,

    Takeshi Awasaki

  2. Kei Ito is at the Institute of Molecular and Cellular Biosciences, University of Tokyo, Yayoi, Tokyo 113-0032, Japan.,

    Kei Ito

Authors
  1. Takeshi Awasaki
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  2. Kei Ito
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Correspondence to Takeshi Awasaki or Kei Ito.

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Awasaki, T., Ito, K. Regeneration switch is a gas. Nature 531, 182–183 (2016). https://doi.org/10.1038/nature17308

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